Always at Your Side
by Lady Elizabeth of New York
Summary: Sirius tells Harry and his friends a story that has been kept secret for many years. The story of how, Lily Evans and her friends were able to defeat Morgan Le Fay and save Hogwarts. Lily/James Remus/Dorcas. Alice/Frank Sirius/Marlene
1. Sirius begins an epic tale

Come children, gather around as I, Sirius Orion Black, tell you a wonderful tale. No doubt, you have heard stories about the great Marauders. The kings of Hogwarts. The champions of Gryffindor. They were the rulers of mischief and everyone loved and respected them. Well expect for the Slytherins. But who cares what those stupid snakes thought?

Anyway, this story is surprisingly not about the Marauders in all their glory. Mrs. Weasley so _sweetly_ requested that I stop giving Fred and George ideas with my stories. So this story is about four girls who were the queens of Hogwarts. They were our good friends and our dreaded enemies. You know what they say: behind every great man, there is a woman rolling her eyes.

And by Merlin's pants, they were rolling their eyes at us. Because we were idiots. Lovable and good-looking but idiots. Especially Peter.

These four girls didn't have a group name, they didn't do anything like playing pranks and they didn't approve of our antics. Except Marlene and maybe Alice.

I know what you're thinking. If they didn't do cool stuff like we did, then why am I telling a story about them. Well they might not have did what we did. But they managed to save us, Hogwarts and the wizarding world from Morgan Le Fay.

Yes, Hermione, I am aware that Morgan Le Fay has been dead for centuries and witches can not rise from the dead. Well I'm telling you, Morgan Le Fay rose from the dead and she possessed… okay, I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

What was that, Harry? You wanna know why you never heard this story before. You see, the Minster in our days didn't want word to get out that a dark witch had come back to life. So your Mum and co just got awards and we were told never to speak of it. It's kind of the whole Chamber of Secrets deal.

Any more questions? No? Good. Now as I was saying these four girls were remarkable witches on their own but together they were unstoppable.

First up is Lily Evans. The fiery redhead with a temper to match. She did not tolerate rule breakers or people who made fun of her friends or really anything fun. It was ironic considering who she ended up with.

Secondly, we have Dorcas Meadows, a brainy brunette and Remus' girlfriend. James and I liked to call her "the female Remus" because she was shy, not willing to speak up and a loyal friend. She even had her own little dirty secret like Moony had expect she was less furry.

Thirdly, was Miss Alice Prewett, the beautiful strawberry blonde. She was as shrewd as a Slytherin. She was usually the one who got us out of trouble (much to Lily's chagrin) because of her quick tongue. It's funny, Alice was such a clever thinker yet she continued to trip over her own feet. Between you and me, I think that she only pretended to trip so Frank would catch her.

And last but certainly not least was my girl, Marlene McKinnon, the blonde version of me. She was my equal. She knew how to wrap any boy around her finger. Unlike her friends, she was our strongest supporter. And she agreed with us that Slytherins were evil. Well except for one but I'll get to that later.

These four girls were a force to be reckoned with and as Morgan Le Fay found out, they did not take kindly to people hurting their friends. Or in Marlene, Dorcas and Lily's case, their boyfriends.

That's right. The Marauders are the ones in distress this time. I'm sorry to say that we were reckless and not that smart in this story. Except me of course. Okay, fine, especially me. I can see that have peaked your interest.

* * *

It all started on the evening of August 29 1976. Three days before we went back to school. Lily was in her house, arguing with her sister.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Petunia shouted. "I will not let you invite those freaks to this house when Vernon might come over." She shuddered as she thought of what would happen if her dear fiancé found out that her sister's three freak friends were staying there.

"First of all, they are not freaks," Lily said in a strained voice. She was tired of her sister calling her and her friends freaks. "Second of all, Mum said they could come over. Thirdly, I haven't seen them all summer."

"I don't care! You always do this. You always ruin everything!" Petunia exclaimed before storming up the stairs.

Lily would have screamed something else when she heard a pop outside. Lily turned around to see her three friends waving at her from the other side of the kitchen window. Lily's eyes widened and she rushed outside.

"What are you girls doing here? I thought you were coming tomorrow," Lily told them, hugging each one of them. "And why are you dressed up?"

"I thought you said you were going to tell her," Dorcas said disapprovingly to Marlene. Marlene had the decency to look sheepish.

"If I told her she probably would have said no," Marlene protested.

Lily's eyes narrowed. "I would have said no to what?" she asked annoyed, looking exactly like McGonagall where someone was breaking a rule.

"James is having a party to celebrate becoming head boy," Alice admitted.

"Potter is Head Boy," Lily repeated. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Lily had found out she was the Head Girl a week previous and had assumed or hoped that Remus would be Head Boy.

"No, he showed me the badge. He's actually Head Boy," Marlene said gently. The McKinnons were the Potters next-door neighbors. So Marlene definitely knew whether or not James was just playing a prank.

"Lily, please come to the party with us. Frank can't go so I don't want to be all alone while Dorcas and Marlene make out with their boyfriends," Alice pleaded.

Lily sighed. "Will Potter's parents be there?" Lily asked hopefully.

"No," Marlene admitted quietly. "But they'll be right next door with my parents. Please come."

"I don't have a dress," Lily protested. Marlene took out a golden dress from behind her back. Lily groaned. They had probably thought of everything. They knew her too well. "Fine, I'll go. Just give me a few minutes to change."

"Don't even try sneaking out the window because we are going to guard very side of your house," Alice called after her. Lily just moaned in response.

Little did they know that across town, a certain someone was planning to crash the Potter party with his friends. To this day, I still don't know why he wanted to crash our party. Maybe because he had super hearing and knew Lily would be there. Or maybe he just hated us that much and wanted to cause a little chaos. All I know he wasn't expecting to go home with a dangerous book.


	2. The start of something strange

While Lily was getting ready for his party, James was freaking out. I had found out from Marlene that she, Alice and Dorcas were going to force Lily into coming. I made the mistake of informing James of this.

Harry, I'm sure you're wondering why your mum wasn't thrilled that your dad was Head boy and didn't want to go to a party he was at. Well they had a complicated relationship. Your dad was madly in love with your mum while she… well, she thought he was a bighead toerag. But don't worry, they get better.

I digress, James was freaking out over Lily coming to his party so he was acting a little crazy… more than he would normally act, I mean.

"James, what are you doing?" I asked worriedly, fearing for James' mental health. James had disappeared from the party and I went looking for him. I found James in his bathroom, having a staring contest with his reflection in the mirror. Actually, his face was so close to the glass, it looked like he was going to make out with his reflection.

"There's something wrong with my hair," James remarked matter of factly.

"James, your hair is messy. Everyone knows that," I reminded him.

"No, that's not it. Ugh, Lily will be here any minute and I need to look perfect," James complained. I groaned. Not this again, I thought.

"Prongs, you're being crazy. Lily doesn't care what you look like. If she was into looks, she would have fallen for me, years ago," I joked. James was not amused. He glared at me. "What? I'm kidding." I wasn't really. Everyone knows that I was the good looking one in our little group but I decided to say that later when James wasn't so stressed.

"You know I have no sense of humor when it comes to Lily liking someone else," James snapped. "Maybe I should buy some muggle hair products. There's a twenty-four hour muggle store in town, maybe I should…." James trailed off when he saw my weirded out look. "I'm pathetic, aren't I?"

"Beyond pathetic," I answered bluntly. "Look, mate, there must be at least twenty single girls at our party tonight. Please stop obsessing over Evans, choose one of them and go have fun."

"Fine but only because I'm getting hungry," James said firmly. I sighed. Sometimes I really worried about James. He was my best friend. He was the brother, I never had, seeing as I disowned the brother I did have. But that's a different story.

* * *

Anyhow, an hour passed before those four girls arrived. I greeted them at the door.

"Whoa, you look hot. You clean up real nice, ladies," I told them with a grin.

Lily gave me an annoyed glare, Alice rolled her eyes, Dorcas blushed bashfully and Marlene smirked.

"You don't look half bad yourself, Sirius," Marlene said seductively. "Except I don't like your shirt. We'll have to take that off later."

"Oh geez, Marlene. Could you be any more blatant and crude?" Lily asked appalled. Marlene gave her a wicked smile. She was always so beautiful when she did something her parents didn't approve of which was most of the time.

"Why yes, I can. Sirius, let's go to your bedroom so we can sh—" Marlene began, only for Alice to cut her off.

"Marlene McKinnon, you finish that sentence, I will march over to your house and get your parents," Alice said sternly.

"Oh come on, Alice, it was a joke," Marlene said with a sigh. "Sometimes I feel like I'm the one of the four of us with a sense of humor."

"Don't worry, love, I find you funny," I assured her.

"Uh, Sirius, where's Remus?" Dorcas asked. While we were talking, Dorcas had been scanning the room for Remus.

"He's upstairs, reading as usual," I answered, rolling my eyes. Because even though I love him like a brother, it annoyed me that Remus would rather read then party. "Make him come down here and have fun."

"I'm not sure I can do that," Dorcas said with a sigh. If it had been up to her, Remus would dancing with her right then and there.

"Aw, come on, I know how persuasive you can be. Just hearing the sound of your voice makes Remus close his books," I told her. I meant it as a compliment because that was a feat that not even James, Pettigrew and I couldn't accomplish. But for a unknown reason, or at least unknown to me at the time, Dorcas looked offended. She said nothing and just walked towards the stairs.

I had a little time to dwell on this odd occurrence or even ask about it as James walked up to us. He looked positively giddy. I swear, he looked like a lovesick teenager, which technically he was. But that didn't mean he had to look like it.

"'ello, James," Marlene greeted her cheerfully.

"Nice party, James," Alice complimented him.

But James didn't respond to either of them. He only had eyes for Lily. "Hey Evans," James greeted her, trying and failing to sound nonchalant. I exchanged an exasperated look with Alice and Marlene.

"Potter," Lily said, nodding curtly. "I hear you're Head Boy this year."

"Yeah, Dumbledore must have been crazy when he picked me," James remarked. Lily raised an eyebrow at him in surprise and to my absolute shock, a tiny smile appeared on her face.

"I guess that's something we can agree on," she told him, almost playfully.

"That's got to be a first," James joked, looking delighted. Another tiny smile from Lily. "Um, would you like me to show the kitchen? It's a lot quieter than this room." James gestured to the radio which was playing the latest songs.

"I kind of promised Alice, I would stay with her," Lily told him, sounding genuinely apologetic.

"Oh well, she can come with us," James suggested. Now that was a surprise coming from James. Normally he would make sure that he and Lily were alone. But then again, he wasn't the only one acting weird.

After James, Lily and Alice walked towards the kitchen, I turned to Marlene and asked: "Did Lily hit her head or something?"

"Not exactly. Alice just made her promise to more nice with James," Marlene explained.

"Still this is very odd," I remarked.

"Oh forget about them. I came here to dance, so let's do just that," Marlene told me brightly. With that, Marlene grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the dance floor. I soon forgot to worry over James and Lily. Mostly because a few Death Eater wannabes, led by Snape, were going to crash the party.


End file.
